Keyboard operated musical instrument



May L9, 1931. A. v. BENNETT KEYBOARD OPERATED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT FiledDec. ll. 1929 Patented May 19, 1931 PATENT OFFICE ALICE VIOLET BENNETT,F LONDON, ENGLAND KEYBOARD OPERATED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Application ledDecember 11, 1929, Serial No. 413,301, and in Great Britain December 14,1928.

This invention relates to musical instruments in which the sound to beproduced is obtained by actuating the keys of a keyboard after themanner of playing a piano, and in 1. which the keys bring hammers orstrikers into contact with suitable sound producing members.

The obj ect of my invention is to provide a simple and eflicient type ofinstrument by means of which a high tonal quality or timbre is producedfrom a set of sonorous bodies. A further object of my invention is toprovide a novel construction and arrangement of sonorous bodiesparticularly suitable for generating a harmonious scale or scales ofringing or bell-like sounds.

Broadly my invention consists in a series of sonorous bodies injuxtaposition to a series of strikers or hammers each connected to itsappropriate one of a number of keys arranged substantially after themanner of a piano keyboard, the sonorous bodies each being in the fromof a length of metal secured at one end and free to vibrate about eachsecured end.

The sonorous bodies can be a series of metal rods secured to ahorizontal bar and progressively increasing in length from one end tothe other in order to obtain the desired scale. Alternatively eachsonorous body may be in the form of a eonvolute length of metal, forinstance a length of steel spring wound to t-he desired convolutionsafter the manner of some clock springs. The inner ends ofthe eonvolutemembers are fixed to thehorizontal bar. The said horizontal barpreferably extends completely along the interior of a boxlikecompartment which may have a sound board across its rear wall.

Any suitable number of sets of sonorous bodies can be provided supportedin the manner above described, and strikers or hammers corresponding innumber to the said sonorous bodies ,are provided beneath the sonorousbodies. It is preferred to employ hammers faced with felt, leather orother suitable material, each hammer consisting of a link pivoted at oneend to a suitable horizontal frame i member and formed at-its other andfree end with an upwardly projecting striker. The

said frame member can comprise a wooden bar secured at its ends to theend walls of the box-Eike sound compartment and having one or a largenumber of slots formed in it t0 receive short strips of vellum or othersuitable iiexibie material pivotally connecting the said links to thesaid wooden bar. Actually it isl preferred to provide the said slots bylocating the pieces of vellum or their equivalent between the saidwooden bar and a detachable strip of wood or other suitable material. Y

Normally the links of the hammers incline" downwards towards their freeends which are preferably their front ends, and are supported onopstanding strikers or forks formed on the inner ends of the keys whichcan be fulcrumed in well known manner, consequently when a key isrstruck the corresponding hammer will be struck upwards and will strikeand rebound off the appropriate sonorous body, the hammer returning toits normal position by reason of its own weight.

A damper action may be provided by mounting on the inner end of each keyan upstanding rod having a curved upper end normaily residing againstthe upper side of the appropriate sonorous body, but raised there-- fromimmediately upon the depression of a key by the person playing theinstrument. As soon as a key is released its damper will engage theappropriate sonorous body andarrest its vibration.

In order that my invention may be clearly understood and readily carriedinto effect I have appended hereto a sheet of drawings illustratingembodiments of my invention, and wherein Fig. l is a sectional sideelevation of the preferred form of my invention.

2 is a detail plan view showing' the arrangement of keys and hammers.

Fig. 3 isa detail diagrammatic view showing a method of arranging anappropriate scale of notes. ,p

Fig. A is a sectional side elevation view showing a modified form ofsonorous bodies and arrangement of `striker mechanism.

Referring to the drawings the instrument is shown with an arrangement ofkeys l of any suitable number of octaves similar to the keys of a piano,and a corresponding strip 19.

number of sonorous bodies 2, which in Figs. 1, 2 and 8 are shown as aseries of round section, or other suitable section, solid or hollowstraight rods secured at one end to a horizontal metal or other suitablebar 3 extending across the end walls 4 of a box-like sound compartment5. The keys 1 can pivoton a common'horizontal bar 6 secured to a baseboard 7l in proximity to the plane of the front wall 8 of thecompartment '5, suitable dowels 9 secured to the bar 6 locating the keysin their proper positions and permitting them to fulcrum on the bar 6 byreason of slots 10 in the keys receiving the dowels 9. Suitable `stripsof material, for instance felt, 11, V)rovide a quiet and easy movementof the keysl, and the actuated ends of the keys are recessed underneathto receive guide pins 12 secured to and upstanding from the base'7,felt, rubber or other suitable strips 13 providing kbuffers for thekeysvl when they'are depressed.

` The sonorous members 2 are adapted to be struck by .hammers in theform of links 14 having ,suitable Weighted striking. heads 15yupstanding therefrom the free ends of the heads 15preferably beingcovered with felt, leather or other suitable members 16 for engaging thesonorous members 2.

The hammers are pivota'lly connected to a common horizontal bar 17preferably by means of short 'flexible connecting strips 18,

for instance pieces of vellum, each secured in a slitlin one end of alink 14, or otherwise suitably connected thereto, and clamped betweenthe bar 17 and a detachable securing Instead of a single strip 19, ashort plateniay be provided for each hammer, whereby the hammers may beindividuvally removed when necessary.

Normally the free ends rof the linksv 14 rest .upon'the keys 1, each ofwhich preferably lia-s afelt, rubber or other suitable pad 2O secured toits upper surface to absorb the l noise and shock of the fallinghammers. The hammers are struck smartly upwardsl upon the depression ofthe keys, each key having at its inner end a striker 21 for thislpurpose,

the strikers 21 preferably beingarranged at right anglesto the normalinclination of the hammers 14 as shown in Fig. 1 so that there isobtained a clean striking' action of the strikers 21 against thehammers, inl stead of a glancingV striking action. The heads ofthestrikers 21 are fitted with felt, oit other suitable noise absorbingcaps 22 which normally lightly contact with thelinks 14. The strikers 21preferably have their heads threaded on to pins 23 secured in the keys 1whereby they may be adjusted` as regards their extension from the keys.

The rear ends of the keys normally rest by reason of their predominanceof weight over their front ends, uponr afelt or other suitable shock andsound absorbing strip 24 secured on a bar 25 fixed to the base 7 therear ends of the keys if necessary being-loaded with metal, forinstancerby boring the rear end of each key to receive a metal body 26.

It is preferred that each sonorous member 2 shall have its anchored endtapered or restricted in diameter at its junction to the bar 3 to ensurea ready vibration as indicated at 2a in Fig. 1, this endv of each rod 2preferably being threaded into a securing screw 27 as shown, each holein the bar 3 which ref ceives a rod 2 preferably being flared Vat itsinner end, as indicated at 28, to permit a freedom` of vibration oftherods 2.

Depression of a key 1 will cause the approlpriate hammer to fly upwardsagainst the appropriate rod 2 relative to the striker 21, the arc ofmovement ofthe hammers being Vgreater rthan that of the strikers 21 soas to v gaging projections and grooves to guide the base 7. The frontend of the keyboard can be covered by a board 29, hinged tothe frontedge ofthe base BO of the compartment 5 as indicated at 31 so that whenthe instrument is in use it can lie horizontally, but when the keyboardis slid into the compartment 5,! the hinged board 29 can be foldedagainst the front wall 8 of the compartment 5, with its `front shield29a closing aA correspondingly dimensioned opening 32 in the top 33 ofthe compartment 5. A music rest can be foldedV into the compartment 5and a lock or other suitable securing device 35 can engage with asonorous rods 2, whereby any shaking of the-.5'k

yinstrument will not produce any, or many, musical sounds. l n

Instead of having straight sonorous rodsV 2 as shown in Fig'. y1, aseries of coiivolute lengths of met-al rod 2b may be employed as* showninV 4, the convolute rods being secured at' their inner ends to a commonbar .8a corresponding to the bai' 3, The arrange*- ment of strikers maybe as shown in Fig. '1.

However, I have shown a modified striker mechanismin which hammers 36with heads 87 similar to the hammer heads employed in pianos are pivotedin slots in a bar 17a` secured across the end walls 44'fof'the coinpart-'ment 5 vor to the front wall' 8. The hammers i1 of a series of strikers21a in the form rods secured to the keys l. The strikers are inclin'edrelative to the keys 1 so that they normally lie substantially at rightangles to the downwardly inclined hammers in the same manner as shown inFig. l, the hammers and strikers however in this instance being arrangedwith their free ends directed rearwards of the instrument instead offorwards.

If desired a damper device may be provided for the sonorous bodies 2 or2b for instance as shown in Fig. 4 in which each key l has attached toits rear end an upstanding arm 38 bent at its upper end so as tonormally lie against a sonorous'member 2 or 2b, and preferably formedwith a felt or other suitable head 39 to engage the appropriate sonorousmember. It will be apparent that as each key is depressed to play a notethe damper member of the selected key will move clear of the appropriatesonorous member in advance of the striking thereof, and upon releasingthe key the damper will engage and damp the sonorous member.

The striker mechanism shown in Fig. 4 can be adapted to be slid into thecompartment 5 in the same manner as that shown in Fig. l.

By means of my invention a very simple but very attractive musicalinstrument is provided which will be useful as an inexpensive substitutefor a piano and will introduce a novel and fascinating tone inorchestral work.

Although a portable type of piano is illustrated it is to be understoodthat my invention may be applied to a full size standard type of uprightor grand piano.

I claim l. A keyboard operated musical instrument comprising a support,a series of sonorous bodies secured to said support, a second support, aseries of hammers carried' by said second support, one in juxtapositionto each of said bodies, and a series of keys adapted to operate saidhammers to strike said bodies, said supports being relatively movable sothat said bodies are movable out of the path of operation of saidhammers.

2. A keyboard operated musical instrument comprising a box-likecontainer, a series of sonorous bodies mounted within said container, asupport slidably mounted within said container, a series of hammerscarried by said support, a series of keys comprising a keyboard alsocarried by said support and adapted to operate said hammers, thearrangement being such that said support may be moved into a position inwhich the keyboard is located outside said container and in which thehammers when operated will strike said bodies and may also be moved intoa position in which the keyboard is located within said container andsaid hammers operate in a portion of the container not occupied by saidbodies. i

3. A keyboard operated musical inst-rument comprising a comparativelylong but shallow box-like container, a series of sonorous bodies mountedwithin said container and extending only partially therethrough, asupport mounted within said container, a series of hammers carried bysaid support, and a series of keys also carried by said support andadapted to operate said hammers, said support being slidable in thedirection of the length of said container so that in one position thekeyboard is located outside said container and the hammers will strikesaid bodies when operated, and so that in another position the keyboardis within said container and the keys are locatedin that part of saidcontainer not occupied by said bodies.

4. A keyboard operated musical instrument comprising a comparativelyvlong but shallow box-like container, a series of sonorous bodiesmounted within said container and extending only partially therethrough,a

support mounted within said container, a

series of hammers carried by said support and va series of keys alsocarried'by said support, adapted to operate said hammers, said supportbeing slidable in the direction of the length of said container so thatin one position the keyboard is located outside said container and thehammers will strike said bodies when operated, and so that in anotherposition the v shallowk box-like container, a support located along thefront of said container, a series of sonorous bodies in the form ofstraight rods each secured at oneend to said support and extendingwithin said container in the direction of the length thereof and free attheir other ends, a second support, a series of hammers carried by saidsecond support, one in juxtaposition to each of said bodies, and aseries of keys adapted to operate said hammers to strike said bodies,said supports being relatively movable so that said bodies are out ofthe pathl of operation of said hammers.

6. A keyboard operated musical instrument comprising a box-likecontainer, a member secured along the front of said container, a seriesof sonorous bodies in the form of straight rods each secured at one endto said member and extending within said container in the direction ofthe length thereof and free at their other ends, a support slidablymounted Within said. container,-, a series of hammers carried by saidsupport, a series of keys comprising a keyboard also carried by saidsupport and adapted to voperate said hammers, the arrangement being suchthat said support may be moved into a position in Which the hammers Whenoperated Will strike said bodies and may also be moved into a positionin Which the hammers operate in aportion otl the container not occupiedby said bodies.

7. A keyboard operated musical instrument comprising'a comparativelylong but shallow box-like container, a supporting member located alongthe front of said con-V tainer, a series of sonorous bodies in the torniof straight rods each secured at one end to said member extendingwithinsaid container and partially therethrough inthe. direction of the lengththereof and free at their other ends, a support mounted Within saidcontainer, a series oic hammers carried by said support, a.V series ofkeys aiso carried by said support and adapted to operate said hamp saidbodies.

Cil

mers, said support being slidable in the direction of thelength .of saidcontainer so that in one position the keyboard is located outside saidcontainer and the hammers Will strike said bodies when operated, and sothat in anotherposition the keyboard is Within said container, and thekeys are located in that part ot said container not occupied by 8. Akeyboard operated musical instrument comprising a box-like container7 asupporting,` rod mounted Within said container, a seriesof convoluterods secured at their ,inner ends to said supporting rod and free attheir outer ends, a series of hammers mounted Within said containerloelou7 said convolute rods, a series of keys adapted to operate saidhammers, and a series of damp-V ers one secured ydirectly on each ofsaidkeys and normally'in Contact with the upper side Y of said convoluterods.

ALICE VIOLET BENNETT

